Crops department

New seed for a new season Garst adds 15 new seed corn products to its lineup, including one with YieldGard insect protection, one with StarLink Bt and another with an IT hybrid for the Clearfield production system.

Dairyland Seed's new Magnum V-Wet alfalfa offers a branched-root trait to keep more of the root system above the water table. It is a good choice for crops in low-lying or poor draining areas.

Pioneer has three new canola varieties: a conventional variety, one with the Clearfield trait and one with the Roundup Ready gene. For soybeans, the company has 23 new varieties: some have the Roundup Ready gene, two have the STS gene, nine have SCN resistance and one has white mold tolerance. The company also introduces a downy mildew-resistant sunflower, which is a linoleic hybrid; one high-oleic hybrid; and a long-seeded confection hybrid. Two sorghum hybrids with green bug biotype I resistance top out the company's seed lineup.

New auger system The auger on Kasco's new Rock-n-Roll single auger system rolls along a track. To fill a drill, the auger begins at one end of the drill and slides along a track until it reaches the other end.

Kasco claims that its auger system has a weight advantage; because it weighs only about 350 lbs., it doesn't add a lot of weight to the back of a drill. A four-section telescoping tube extends from the top of the auger to reach a grain drill of 15 or 20 ft. A wagon auger isn't necessary because the hopper of the auger lies beneath the gravity wagon. The system stays mounted on the drill, but you can change varieties and use it with more than one wagon. Plastic tubing is 6 in. and flighting choice is brush or rubber. Price: $1,850. Contact Kasco Mfg. Co., Dept. FIN, 170 W. 600 N., Shelbyville, IN 46176, 317/398-7973.